EVERETT – The Everett AquaSox have known from the beginning of the season they have the talent to be among the best in the Northwest League.
And now it appears the AquaSox have also learned what it takes to win.
Brent Johnson stroked a game-winning single in the bottom of the 10th inning, and the AquaSox defeated the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes 2-1 in 10 innings Sunday night before a crowd of 3,088 at Everett Memorial Stadium.
With the victory, Everett (37-25) completed a three-game sweep of Salem-Keizer (30-32) and has won four straight, all hard-fought games against the Volcanoes which the AquaSox won in the late innings.
Everett moved 31/2 games ahead of Vancouver, which was rained out Sunday, for first place in the West Division
“Right now we’re just on one of those streaks,” Johnson said. “We’ve won seven of our last eight and our pitching has done a good job of keeping us in the games. We’re not hitting as consistent as we were earlier in the year, but we’re fighting to the end and making things happen.”
The AquaSox had just four hits going into the 10th inning. But then the 10th played out to perfection. Oswaldo Navarro led off the inning by bouncing a double over the head of third baseman Simon Klink. Casey Craig then beat out a sacrifice bunt for a single, putting runners at the corners for Johnson with nobody out.
Johnson fell behind 0-2 against reliever John Odom before lashing a liner to the left-center gap, giving the AquaSox the victory.
” (Odom) started me off with a curveball and I was looking for a fastball on the first pitch,” Johnson said. “Since he threw a curveball on the first pitch, on the second pitch I was looking for a fastball again and he threw another curveball and made me look pretty silly. So with no outs I was looking curveball and I got lucky. He hung one and I was able to put it into the gap.”
It was the second straight game the AquaSox won in their final at bat. Everett scored the winning runs in the bottom of the eighth in Saturday’s 6-3 victory on a two-run single by Marshall Hubbard.
Johnson’s hit made a winner out of reliever Mark Lowe, who improved to 1-2 with two scoreless innings of relief. Lowe, fellow reliever Cibney Bello and starter Mumba Rivera combined to give up just three hits, though they also walked seven and hit three.
“We told the guys at the beginning of the season and we’ve told them lately that for us to get this done, we need everybody,” Everett manager Pedro Grifol said. “Today was a team effort. We pitched well, we played good defense, we moved guys on the bases when we needed to with good bunts. It was fundamental baseball and it went in our favor.”
Salem-Keizer starter Jonathan Sanchez baffled the AquaSox hitters. In five innings he gave up one unearned run on two hits and one walk, striking out 11.
Everett opened the scoring in the bottom of the fifth with an unearned run. Matt Tuiasosopo led off with hustle double, lining a ball to left and never hesitating as he motored to second, sliding head-first just under the tag. Tuiasosopo took third on a passed ball and then broke home on Elvis Cruz’s bouncer to short. Salem-Keizer shortstop Kyle Haines, playing in on the grass, had a good chance at throwing Tuiasosopo out at the plate. However, the ball slipped out of his hand as he threw home and sailed to the backstop, allowing Tuiasosopo to score uncontested to give the AquaSox a 1-0 lead.
However, Rivera lost his control in the top of the sixth, allowing Salem-Keizer to tie it up. Two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases with two out, then Rivera walked Will Thompson to force in Jeff Palumbo and make it 1-1.
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